Leather upholstery for chairs, sofas, or the like



Sept. 29, 1925.

W. KNOLL.

LEATHER UPHOLSTERY FOR CHAIRS n SOFAS, OR THE LIKE Filed arch 13, 2925 Patented Sept. 29, 1925.

i, UNITED STATES WILLY KNOLT., or STUTTGART, GERMANY.

LEATHER UPHOLSTERY FOR CHAIRS, SOFAS, OR THE LIKE.

Application led March 13J 1925. Serial No. 15,305.

To @ZZ whom t may concern: Be it known that l, TVTLLY lxisoLL, a citizen of Germany, residing at Stuttgart,

'livurttemberg Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leather Upholstery for Chairs, Sofas, or the like, of which the following is a specification.

The leather upholstery according to the present invention, which is designed for club settles, sofas and other upholstered articles, is distinguished by a particularly simple, convenient, and from a manufacturing point of view advantageous construction.

it consists substantially of crossed leather bands, which consist of leather specially prepared for this purpose and attached to the edges of the frame in such a way that by the arrangement of the bands and the softness and flexibility. of the specially prepared leather employed, any desired shapes of the upholstery can be made elastic and the band upholstery used both as an internal and eX- ternal covering without any other upholstering material being employed.

This construction is specially advantageous as by means of it a new type of simple, comfortable and light furniture is provided which possesses on the one hand the advantages of elaborately upholstered furniture namely, elegance and flexibility of the upholstery of the seats and rests and on the other hand those of wicker furniture, namely the greatest possible lightness and ease in cleaning, without the disadvantages of both kinds, namely great weight and high cost of production in the one case and unsightly looking material in the other.

The upholstery heretofore employed for club settles was produced by a large number of operations, namely the fixing of the supporting webbing, the mounting` of the springs, the shaping of the upholstering, the stuffing with hair (for which a number of coverings of linen and other material are required) and finally the application of the leather covering. The band upholstery according to the present invention can on the other hand be stretched and affixed in the simplest possible manner to the framelike side and back rests and also the seats of the furniture, the attachment being made either to the frame of the article of furniture itself or to a special frame adapted to be fitted thereto. This simplication in the manufacture of the upholstery brings about a considerable saving in material and labour in consequence of the fact that the leather bands act in the case of the side and back rests and also the seats, as the inner and outer covering simultaneously. For this purpose the leather is coloured on both sides and suitably treated.

in consequence of the extreme lightness of the settles or the like secured by the present invention, the movability and ease of transport is facilitated to an extraordinary degree and its use rendered possible for all purposes where lightness of the material is of paramount importance as in the case of motor vehicles, aircraft and airships, the reduction in weight in comparison with present club settles being in the proportion of l to 6.

By colouring the leather bands in different colours which by their continuous crossing produce a plait of a mosaic-like pattern, an abundant variety of designs and an artistically pleasing appearance can be obtained, whereas the well known club settles frequently look clumsy and dowdy owing to the monotony of the colour of the surface.

.it still greater variety of design can be obtained by dierent methods of crossing the leather bands, that is to say by varying the angle at which they cross.

Apart from these artistic and manufacturing advantages the band system of upholstery according to the present invention also possesses the additional advantage that they are far less objectionable from a hygienic point of view than the present well known type of chair, sofa and other upholstered furniture. Thus the simple leather banding is accessible in all its parts and therefore much easier to clean, than the present style of upholstery, which has deep and inaccessible folds. The absence of all stufl ing material such as horsehair and the like which only acts as an accumulator of dust or as a nest for moths, still further enhances the cleanliness of the new style of furniture which make it suitable for use in the tropics in particular.

The leather used for the bands must be subjected to a very specialkind of treatment and tanning, first for the purpose of preventing any permanent stretching of the bands when in use, and secondly to provide the necessary softness and flexibility which renders the use of any stuffing material comi pletely superfluous.

With regard to the plaited work of the bands themselves, the softness of the material not only allows any desired form to be given to the settle, but also allows of deep curves or hollows being formed in the rests for example which will accommodate the shape of the body or be of' artistic forms. The advantage of the plaited work is also that at those points where increased flexibility and softness are required, it may be combined with loose cushions to form a whole in such a way that the leather bands are worked in horizontally or vertically through the cushion and thereby produce a natural flexibility of the cushion with increased durability.

The subject matter of the present invention is more fully described by constructional example thereof in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. l shows in perspective a chair with a curved back rest which is provided with a leather band upholstering corresponding to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a frame already covered to be inserted for a back rest for example.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a partially covered rectangular frame, while Figs. l and 5 are sections on a larger scale through the band upholstering the bands shown in Fig. 4 being attached directly to the side portions, frames etc., of the article of furniture while in Fig. 5 is shown an inserted frame for their attachment.

The chair, sofa or the like consists of a frame a which may be of any desired shape and the sides and rear Walls of which are covered according` to this invention with dilferently coloured leather bands b treated on both sides and arranged crossways. These bands Z9 may be arranged close along side each other so that a closed surface is formed. They may however lie at certain distances from each other so that openings or spaces are leftbetween the coloured areas. The bands are attached conveniently to separate frames 0 which are let into recesses (Z in the framing of the seat, of the sides and back portions e etc. In like manner the attachment of the bands may be effected at these parts also by nails, buttons or in any other well known manner. The bands are preferably broad, that is, their width is greater than their thickness.

The attachment to the frame is particularly convenient when the upholstering` of seats and parts thereof which are built into position are concerned, such for example as the upholstering of motor car and railway vehicle seats and the like where the removable frames greatly facilitate the thorough cleaning of the whole arrangement.

In order to make the upholstering still softer, the bands may be passed through cushions for example, so that these latter form a coherent whole with the bands and in consequence of the flexibility of this latter act in a flexible manner. In like manner the bands or the frame therefor may be secured in a flexible manner to the fixed part of the club settle or the like so as to impart the maximum amount of flexibility and yieldingness to the seats in particular. In any case the use of the leather bands without any separate upholstering material is possible.

l claim An article of furniture comprising a frame for the sides and back thereof; and closely woven broad leather bands secured and supported by their ends only to said frame to form the sole back and side surfaces of said article of furniture, all of said bands being under tension, whereby the sides and back surfaces of said furniture will be flexible and have the same appearance on both sides.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

WILLY KNOLL. 

